


Thermal Blanket for Two

by Onlymostydead



Category: DCU, DCU (Comics), Teen Titans (Comics)
Genre: Confessions of love, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Trans Male Character, Unhealthy Binding Practices, cuddling for warmth, this really is lighthearted mostly, trans Wally west
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-16
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-08-02 23:52:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16315067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onlymostydead/pseuds/Onlymostydead
Summary: Roy Harper hates the cold, and this mission in the middle of nowhere Canada is really testing his limits... Especially because it's just him and Wally this time.





	Thermal Blanket for Two

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in its entirety today, based off a Fictober pronpt "Who could do this." This fic didn't fit with my other fictobers though, so I guess it's separate.

Roy hated the cold. Growing up in the Southwestern US had gotten him very used to heat, but not so much the more frigid temperatures. Hell, even winters in Star City were too cold for him. 

Which is why, when he was put on a mission where he and Wally would have to go to the middle of nowhere Nunavut, he was incensed. And of course, he had no way to argue with the placement.  
It had to be a covert op, so the whole team couldn't go. Wally was needed because of his science knowledge, actually, not his speed. Roy was just there to cover for him. They didn't know what to expect out of the disgraced doctors laboratory, or who to expect to be interested in it.

So Roy had tried every excuse in the book. Donna couldn't go, of course, because she had about as much difficulty with 'covert' as you could get. Garth and Victor don't deal well with the cold, and Robin was busy tracking down a quadruple homicide in Gotham. They couldn't send in Wally alone, because he fights like shit and doesn't focus and un-focus well. If he was working on stabilizing the creation they thought was in there and was attacked from behind? He'd never see it coming.

So here they were, all bundled up in polar stealth, racing across the Canadian countryside. It felt a little stupid being like this, held in Wally's arms bridal-style as he ran, but it was a lot faster than any other mode of travel, so he couldn't be mad. The faster they could get in and out, the better.  
All of a sudden, they screeched to a halt. 

"Whew - almost missed it!" Wally exclaimed, setting Roy down in the snow.

It, as it turned out, was easy to miss. The building was small, too small, with a deceptively simple build to it. The edges were all squared, with no visible breaks from the seamless metal other than the door on one side. A heavy covering of snow sat on top, like it had never been cleared off... Ever. If there had been any trees or hills in the area of flat, cold tundra they wouldn't have seen the building at all.

"Alright, passcode, passcode..." Wally searched through all of the secret compartments of his suit. "Did you have the passcode?"

Roy smirked. "Yeah, right here." 

The piece of paper had been tucked safely into his utility belt just under an hour ago, with Wally there, and he had already managed to forget about it. Hands shaking from the cold, Roy punched the code into the touchpad by the door. It slid open smoothly, showing no indication of its abandoned status.

"Wow. Did not expect it to be that easy." Wally whistled. "Well, should we get a move on, I hate the-"

"Just go in, you dork." Roy scoffed, lightly shoving his shoulder.

Wally turned red, but obeyed. Carefully, he crept inside. 

"Yep- there are stairs." Wally called behind him. "Lots of 'em. I'll see how far they go."

"Wait-" He didn't have time to tell him not to before he was rushing down, down into the abandoned laboratory. "Stupid, never listens." 

Roy hated to admit it, but he had been really worried for Wally lately. He's been acting... Weird. Yeah, he was going to blame the worry on that and not on his not-so-secret crush on his teammate. Well... Robin was the only other one to know, and he hardly counted since he knew everything about everyone. Still, rushing down into unknown danger without talking to your teammate first? Seemed like a bad plan, maybe beyond reckless.

Wally was back with him with a rush of wind, coming to a halt at the top of the stairs.

"Goes - a long way - down." He panted, grabbing Roy's hand. "I should carry you- it'll take forever otherwise."

Roy couldn't deny that he turned red as he grumbled his assent, getting scooped up and rushed down the stairs before he could blink.

It was weird how often he had ended up in Wally's arms recently.

"Welcome to the lab!" Wally announced, setting Roy gingerly on his feet. "And I'm pretty sure that's the experiment I'm supposed to work on."

"Yeah." Roy agreed. "That would make sense."

The room itself was fairly cramped, with dim overhead lighting and metal tables covered in various instruments littering the space. At the far end of the room, in a gigantic glass tube that stretched from ceiling to floor, was a strange, swirling fluid that seemed to shift from black to magenta in the light.

Speaking of the light, it almost just... Glowed. Roy wondered if it was electricity or not based on how dim the kind of light it gave out was.

"Anyway... I'll get to work? Let's see if I can find a journal somewhere in here..." Wally got to work searching the lab, and Roy turned towards the door.

He sighed, resigning himself to a long time waiting, and prepared himself for an attack that would likely never happen.

After all, who was likely to come all the way out here? They weren't, under any other circumstances. Shivering, he grit his teeth and focused on the door. Hopefully they wouldn't be in this mess for long.

***

"Uh, Wally, we got a problem." Roy blinked again, trying to figure out what had just happened.

Wally didn't respond, but Roy figured that was him being too focused on his work. He guessed this was his problem then.  
The door, previously not visible, had slid shut, leaving their only exit sealed and them trapped what had to be over a hundred feet below ground level. There was no visible control panel, nor any feasible way to get the thing open. 

His first thought, hacking into whatever ran the door system, was out the window with the lack of any form of electronic device in the room. There wasn't even a panel in the wall he could remove; nothing. Hell, the lights weren't even electric.  
His second thought, using an electric arrow to fry the systems, was out for the same reason... And the fact that the whole room was metal. They would be fried along with it.  
Third idea, explosive arrow, was worse than either of the first two combined, considering how far underground they were.

Maybe there was a secret, additional exit, but as Roy searched it became less and less likely. It was just a smooth metal box a hundred feet underground. Well, that was nice. They were trapped in here. If Wally could vibrate his molecules through the door that would work, but unfortunately, he can't. So they were stuck, for the time being.

What was the experiment? 'Cause if it was some form of mega-acid they could use it to get through the door, right?

Roy slumped down in defeat.

"What's the problem?" Wally asked over his shoulder, approximately fifteen minutes after Roy had asked.

Roy sighed. "Locked in- the door shut on us."

"Well, that's not good." Wally stated the obvious. "I should get done with this in five- it's a little tedious pouring some of these liquids."

"Got it. I'll call the team." Roy said, pulling out his communicator.

Nothing, it seemed to be dead.

"Hey, toss me your comm." Roy held out his hand, catching the device despite Wally's bad throw.

It was dead too; nothing.

"Comm's are dead." Roy announced, pulling himself up to his feet. "This has officially gone from bad to worse."

"Yep, just a sec- could you let me finish?" Wally said over his shoulder, before going right back to stooping over the table, trying to read some messily scrawled notes.

"I'll leave you to it." Roy grumbled, searching the room again.

It didn't matter how many times he poured over every surface, there was nothing he could find. There was no way either of them could break through that door, and there were no indications of hidden doors. It was straightforward enough, and that was what made the situation so frustrating.

"Finished! Took longer than I thought, but the mixture is stabilized. No longer an explosive hazard." Wally announced with that dopey little grin, hands on his hips. "Yep, I just saved us all."

Roy rolled his eyes. "Shut up, we're still stuck in here."

He frowned, shoulders dropping. "Yeah, I know. And I'm running out of fuel. I forgot to restock my calorie bars."

"That's not good." Roy commented.

"No shit, Captain Obvious." Wally rolled his eyes. "How are you doing?"

He shrugged. "I'm okay, or, as good as I can be, at least. I'm really fucking cold though."

Wally stopped. "I thought that was just me; I knew it was getting colder in here."

They shared a worried look.

"Some one'll come looking for us soon, right?" Wally smiled nervously, his voice a little shaky.

"Soon?" Roy scoffed. "Try tomorrow. They won't be able to get out here until then, pretty much. They have no reason to suspect anything bad's happened."

"Except total radio silence?" Wally tried.

Roy sighed, rubbing his temples. "Wally, when was the last time you used your comm?"

He didn't answer.

"And I'm not the best with communication either," Roy added. "So, not likely."

Wally sat on one of the tables, swinging his legs back and forth. "So we wait?"

"Yep." Roy stretched his arms over his head, trying to ignore the shivers in his spine. "Pretty much."

***

"No! That's an awful idea!" Wally practically shrieked, jumping backwards. "I mean, like, the team'll be here soon, right?"

Roy sighed, clenching and unclenching his fists to keep motion in his hands. "I don't like this either, but we've got to conserve body heat. My warm gear is only so warm, and your suit is just like your normal one, but white. How are you not frozen?"

Wally shrugged. "Ultra fast metabolic rate. Keeps me toasty."

That was obviously not true, based on the color of Wally's face. Even before he got all flustered his nose and cheeks had been bright red, and his normally pretty pink lips were going blue.  
Stop thinking about Wally's lips, Roy reminded himself. It felt a little creepy for him to be suggesting that they cuddle under his thermal blanket for warmth anyway, even though it really was the right thing to do in this situation.

"Wally, you look freezing." Roy stated, getting the blanket out of his utility belt. "You don't have to strip all the way - you are wearing underwear, right?"

If possible, Wally's face got even more red. "Of course I am! Are you not wearing underwear?"

"I am wearing underwear." Roy shook out the blanket from its super-compact case. "Now are you going to be an idiot and freeze, or are you going to join me?"

Wally bit his very blue lip, tapping his fingers very quickly on the table. "Roy, can I tell you something first? You have to promise to keep it secret."

Wondering where that came from, Roy nodded.

"I'm serious; you need to promise." Wally demanded, eyes darting around the room.

Roy frowned, more worried than ever. "I promise."

Wally sucked in a deep breath. 

"I'm trans." He whispered super fast, so quick Roy barely comprehended what he said.

"And?" Roy shrugged, relieved it wasn't something more scary. "I don't mind, you're still Wally."

The tension went from his body, and he nodded. "Alright. Fine. Let's strip. 'Cause that's a good idea."

Wally made no move to take off his suit.

"Let me guess, me first?" Roy shrugged, unzipping his coat and laying it on the floor. 

"Yep." He nodded. "Strip."

Roy rolled his eyes, taking off the rest of his snow gear as quickly as he could with how badly he was shaking. Once he was down to his normal under layers, he sat down on the layer of snow gear. Soon enough he was down to underwear, whereupon he quickly pulled the thermal blanket over himself.

"Come on, your turn." Roy nodded to Wally, trying to keep as much of himself under the blanket as possible.

Wally, in a blur, was stripped and under the blanket with him. "Okay, no comments, alright? I know what my body looks like, don't need you to remind me."

"...I literally wasn't going to say anything, but okay." Roy readjusted how he was situated on the snow gear, trying to get the zipper off of his leg.

"You're looking at me weird." Wally said, crossing his arms. "I can tell."

Roy shrugged. "Just thinking. Aren't you not supposed to wear a binder during exercise?"

Wally's eyes went wide. "I mean, being a speedster it's a little more-"

"Wouldn't it be worse for you?" Roy wondered out loud. "I mean, it's a constant constricting of your ribcage, so it's certainly not gonna be any more safe."

"Shh." Wally hissed. "You aren't getting me topless."

Roy turned bright red. "I was gonna offer you my undershirt, for the record."

Wally opened his mouth to say something, then shut it again. "You're gonna make me, aren't you?"

"I mean, it's lot safer, but I'm not making you do anything." Roy said, looking around for the shirt. "Here."

Wally scowled, then rolled over so he was facing away from Roy and changed into the shirt. He rolled back over, tucking his head back under the blanket. 

"There, you happy?" Wally was still frowning. "Also, is that a glow stick?"

Roy looked down at the, very high tech, glow stick he had cracked earlier for light under the blanket. "I guess. Thought it would make this a little less awkward if we could see each other."

"Uh huh." Wally grinned. "Or you just wanted an excuse to show off your abs."

Roy chuckled. "I never need an excuse to show off my abs- what's that on your leg?"

There was a definite bruise, actually a lot more than just the one now that he was looking. Hard ones on his knees for certain, one on his outer right thigh, and smaller things littered around.

Wally paled. "What's what?"

"I thought you didn't bruise." Roy scooted closer, his curiosity piqued. "I mean, speedster and all."

Stiffening, he scooted backward, then quickly back forward to get off of the cold floor. "Yeah, they're just taking a while to heal."

"And that on your arm?" Roy reached over to touch, gently, the large bruise there on his upper arm.

"Same thing? We're heroes, it's not weird to have bruises." Wally's nervous smile was back paired with the way his breath seemed to shake. "Would you stop-"

Roy's eyes met his, and Wally fell silent.

There were lots of bruises on his arm, on his forearms and higher, all rough looking things but not in patterns that made sense for having gotten them as Kid Flash. Now that he was closer, he could see marks in a ring around his neck, like someone had tried to-

"Stop." Wally choked, pushing back weakly on Roy's chest. 

"Wally, who could do this to you?" Roy, as gently as he could, brushed a thumb over his neck. "They could have broken your windpipe."

"They did." Wally whispered. "That part healed, don't know why the bruises take longer."

Roy frowned. "Wally, what's going on?"

Wally went back to being stiff as a board, his eyes wide. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, what's going on?" Roy tried his best to keep his voice level, but he was beginning to guess and was having a hard time keeping himself from losing his cool. "Who's hurting you? Is it Flash?"

"No! He would never." Wally answered quickly.

"Don't try to tell me they're from the job, 'cause it sure sure as hell doesn't seem like it." Roy said through gritted teeth. "Is it your parents?"

"N-" Wally bit his lip, his whole body seeming to shake. "You can't tell anyone."

Roy felt like he couldn't breathe. "Wally, this is about your safety; of course I have to tell-"

"Don't!" He cried, crossing his arms and curling up into a ball. "I'm fine, it's okay. I'm a speedster, so I can deal with it."

Roy frowned, his brows furrowing. "Wally, what would you do if you learned this was happening to Rob? What if it was happening to me?"

Wally sucked in a shaky breath. "Don't ask me that."

"Wally, you need to tell someone, or I will. Tell the Flash; he could help you, I'm sure." Roy whispered, wrapping an arm around him. "I care about you, okay? I want you to be safe."

Wally swallowed, and nodded.

Roy's eyes widened. "Is it because you're-" 

"I don't want to talk about this, okay?" Wally blurted, cuddling up close to Roy's chest. "I'll tell my aunt. I promise. Now can you go back to not worrying so much about my safety? It's getting weird."

Roy laughed, but there wasn't much heart in it. Absently, he reached up to play with Wally's curls.

"I've always cared this much about your safety, Walls." Roy murmured, letting his eyes drift shut.

Wally made a weird little noise in the back of his throat, but said nothing.

"I'm serious." He restated. "I care about you a lot; probably more than I should."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Wally scoffed.

"I'm trying to tell you that I like you, idiot." Roy said, bracing himself for the reaction.

"Stop it." Was the only thing Wally said.

"What?"

"Who put you up to this? It was Rob, wasn't it?" He sounded close to tears.

Roy's eyes flew open. "No- nobody put me up to it, I swear."

Wally looked up at him with uncertainty. "And you're telling the truth?"

"Yes, for fucks sake-"

In an instant, their lips met. Roy was too stunned to close his eyes for a moment, before it finally registered. He kept his one hand on the back of Wally's head, the other finding his waist through the oversized shirt.

Wally was the one to pull away first. "This is the best worst mission ever." He was grinning from ear to ear, practically lying on top of Roy.

Roy certainly was not complaining. "Which is the best and which is the worst part?" 

He rolled his eyes. "I think you know."

Roy smiled, but his happiness was soured by that dark ring of bruising around his neck. He tried to reassure himself that Wally would be safe soon, but the fact that it had happened at all made his blood boil.

"Now get off of me- you're heavier than you think." Roy said, reaching up to tickle him.

"No- stop-" Wally flailed, pulling most of the blanket off of the two of them. 

Quickly, he fixed it. "See? Don't tickle me."

Roy shivered. "Yeah, yeah - I guess."

It was a long time before the rest of the team got them, but it wasn't too bad just being alone together.

**Author's Note:**

> Check out my tumblrs, Supertinywords for writing, Supertinybats for DC content, and Supertinydom for my winning personality <3
> 
> Comments are love!


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